Of the Dragon's Claws
by EverlastingOblivion
Summary: When Xemnas gives Axel aspecial mission, to take a troop of Organization members into an unexplored area of the universe, things go crazy and five people that can't stand each other are forced to pull together [M for language only]


Of The Dragon's Claws

Chapter1: Opening the Gate

"Axel" Xemnas said smoothly, his voice as dark and unpleasant as ever.

"Xemnas" Axel said, his voice being as cocky and arrogant as ever.

Xemnas chuckled at Axel's choice of reply. If Xemnas had ever forgotten why he was sending Axel on this mission, Axel's unfailing aura of cockiness would always remind him. He loathed it. He wanted, for once, to see Axel dismayed.

"I have a new mission for you. You see there is a strange rip in the fabric of space. Vexen believes it may be a rip in our universe, leading into a different one. If that is a case there might be even more worlds there. And if there are more worlds, it is a great opportunity to speed up the creation of Kingdom hearts nearly ten fold. I'm sending you and three others to investigate this inter-dimensional rip. Vexen will be going of course. And…who ever else wants to go. Be back here in an hour." Xemnas left no room for debate as he then disappeared.

Axel was left, gaping at the wall. " Wha?" he finally managed, a good five minutes after Xemnas disappeared.

XxX

"Sounds interesting" Demyx said, watching form around the corner. If Axel saw him spying he knew he'd get hit upside the head. " Hehehe this sounds like the perfect way to prove that I am not worthless. I can go with Axel and Vexen and show them I'm not a loser." Overjoyed by the idea of getting some respect Demyx quickly warped back to his room to pack his things.

XxX

"So you see, I'll be taking that belligerent fool Axel as protection. It would be nice to have someone of relative intelligence to be along with me though" Vexen said to an eager looking Zexion. It had been weeks since Zexion had been out of the castle.

"an entire universe could be waiting for us you say? Sounds remarkable. Wouldn't miss it for the world" he said in his usual apathetic tone, even though a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was excited, no doubt about it.

"It's settled then. You, Axel, and I shall travel to the other side of this rip and see what we can find. Go on and say good bye to Marluxia and meet me in the main hallway in half an hour" Vexen muttered, finishing shoving a few things into a travel bag he planned to take with him.

"Wha? What do you mean by that?" Zexion asked, seeming a bit startled.

Vexen chuckled darkly and shut the bag with a satisfying click. " oh nothing. Remember, half an hour." Then Vexen vanished with his bag, leaving Zexion to be embarrassed in private.

XxX

When the time came Axel had showed up, late, a single small bag thrown over his shoulder.

Vexen and Zexion were both waiting, three slightly larger bags accompanying them. Marluxia was holding Zexion's hand. " Careful" Marluxia whispered to Zexion quietly, before letting go of his hand and disappearing. Vexen smirked knowingly at Zexion and Zexion merely glared back.

"Okay, we ready? We're taking a Gummi Ship right?" Axel said, annoyed. 'Oh joy, I get to escort the science boys around on what's bound to be the most amazing mission ever' he thought sarcastically. "You're carrying your own bags science boys" he muttered darkly.

"Hey guys, wait up" Demyx called, running down the stairs, Xemnas slowly descending after him. All three of them looked at Xemnas pleadingly.

"Larxene was the only other one who volunteered to go. Would you rather it be her?" Xemnas asked venomously. That shut the three of them up. For a moment anyway.

"But superior please. You know Demyx, he's a blundering fool" Vexen said, glaring at Demyx, who flinched. "He's more likely to completely destroy everything rather than help." Demyx looked down, crestfallen.

"Look forward to him destroying the opposition with his incompetence then" Xemnas replied curtly. With Demyx volunteering to go he was getting rid of four major ass pains all at once. Cocky, arrogant Axel. Loud and obnoxious Demyx. The moody and emo Zexion. And the idiotic academic Vexen. Without those four lurking about, messing things up (Axel and Demyx and their pranks, Vexen and his experiments gone wrong, and Zexion, just being a general emo) everything was sure to be at least a little more peaceful. Shame they hadn't taken Larxene, but they could always tie her up for a week or so.

"You'll be taking Xigbar's Gummi Ship, he was kind enough to lend it to you four idiots- I mean heroes" he said, handing Vexen the keys.

"Hey I wanna drive" Axel yelled.

"You're not qualified Axel. An I.Q. as low as yours would manage to crash and kill us all even if it were on auto-pilot." Vexen snapped and walked off towards the Gummi hangar. Axel gritted his teeth and ran after him.

Zexion sighed, picking up his bag and following them, Demyx falling in line after him. Once they were all out of earshot Xemnas sighed and muttered "thank God. Now I just have to find a way to get rid of the rest of them."

XxX

Axel sat, thoroughly unhappy, in the passengers seat while Vexen sat at the driver's side. "We ready gentlemen?" he asked, and then turned it on before he could get a reply. As the ship jerked alive there was a loud thud accompanied by " OWW!"

Vexen gritted his teeth then turned around to see "WHAT HAPPENED!" he demanded.

The first thing he saw was Demyx's head poke through the cockpit door and he squeaked " wasn't me…we…er… got company…" Vexen and Axel exchanged weird glances then both got up and walked past Demyx to see a closet door had swung open from the jerk and Xigbar lying on the ground, rubbing his head.

"Xigbar! What are you doing?" Vexen snapped at the Freeshooter.

Xigbar frowned and said, " I wanted to come too, but Xemnas said I wasn't 'qualified'. Come one guys! I can be helpful dude!" Xigbar gave them the puppy eye and Axel threw his hands up in surrender.

"Fine, do what you want" Axel snapped and returned to the cockpit. Vexen sighed and shook his head.

"No, we already have enough as it is having to baby-sit Demyx. We don't need you coming too."

Xigbar smirked and pointed ahead of them, out the window. The ship was already taking off. "As if! Sorry bros, too late now."

Zexion glared at Xigbar and said " You can always teleport back you know. Its not that far."

"I don't wanna"

"Xigbar!" Vexen shouted.

"Listen Vexen, your pissed we get it. Now get up here and drive. Dose it really make a difference if we bring the slightly addled veteran with us?" Axel snapped.

Vexen slapped a hand over his face and sighed. "FINE! Do whatever you want Xigbar, but when we get to these other worlds, IF they are even there, don't expect me to look for you if you go M.I.A. got it?" Vexen said coolly before retreating to the cockpit.

Demyx put a hand on the crestfallen Freeshooter's shoulder and said" Its just Vexen, he's always got a stick up his ass. Don't pay attention to him." Demyx offered him a sweet smile and the Freeshooter smiled back lamely.

"If you to are quite finished I'm taking a nap" Zexion said, glaring at them from his seat. He gave an annoyed sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the window.

XxX

Nearly thirteen hours of light speed travel passed. Axel was staring blankly out window, counting stars. " 1,528,329… 1528,330… 1,528,331…" he muttered. Vexen had tuned him out somewhere around 100,000. He glanced down at the radar then back out at the starry sky. Passing by in front of them.

The door between the cockpit and the rest of the ship had been closed so that there would be no more distractions from the ' bumbling, scatterbrained, absentminded fools' as Vexen called them.

Demyx tuned his Sitar, glancing down at it every now and then before turning his gaze to something else. His usual sugar high, supper happy, positive, fun-ness attitude on steroids had been quelled by the eerie silence that had hold of the ship, aside from the rhythmic mumbling that could be heard (if one strained their ears enough) coming from the cockpit, Axel's counting. He sighed, turning his attention to Zexion who was reading some thick paperback book. " What'cha reading?" Demyx finally asked out of boredom. He wasn't much of a reader but it was better than nothing.

Zexion peered up at him in his usual angry-yet-apathetic glare. " What dose it matter to you? With your intelligence quotient I would assume that you've never read a book in your life. Much less a complicated novella."

Demyx looked at him, shocked and offended. " I HAVE TOO" he whined.

"What would that be? 'My First Book of ABC's?' " Zexion said harshly.

"NO" Demyx whined again. While he combed his brain over for a book title he was dismayed to find that he actually couldn't come up with one. " Okay it has been a while…"

Zexion chuckled darkly then said " point made." Then everything was silent again, for two seconds.

Xigbar emerged from the bathroom and said " wow, dude no body eat those funky burritos in the fridge man. They'll give you the wild shi-"

"Xigbar" Zexion snapped. " No one wants to hear about your explosive diarrhea. Some of us are TRYING to read but SOME people are making it very hard because they are being impudent and general fools."

Xigbar stared at him, baffled by the large amount off complicated words in Zexion's vocabulary. "Dude…like… what did you say?"

"He's angry because he can't read his book" Demyx translated. He was still a bit disgruntled himself from Zexion's previous comments on his intelligence.

"oh….okay…. wait, did you just call me stupid?" He asked glaring at Zexion.

Zexion set his book down on his lap and clapped slowly. " Bravo! The dunderhead gets it. Finally clicking in your burnt out stoner brain?"

Xigbar snarled at him " hey dude, don't be insulting me! Like that is totally not fair just because you use big words."

"Well it would be perfectly fair if you had actually finished high school instead of dropping out to smoke pot with Marluxia behind the school. How exactly did you get your position at the lab with Ansem the Wise? Were you just doing a lot of ass kissing?"

"As if! I got hired because I'm smart bro. How did a tiny eight-year-old pip-squeak like you manage to get a job at the lab huh? I though you weren't aloud in till you hit puberty"

"Oh touché Freeshooter. You might make fun of my age, being the youngest aside from Roxas but do you really want me to get started with you? Your so old your hair is turning gray, your brain mass amounts to about as much as a Cro-Magnon, and you speak as if you were a hippie, which is an era long since passed."

Xigbar clenched his teeth, looking ready to rip Zexion's face off. Demyx stood up in-between them. " Guys, guys, guys! Can't we all get along? We don't need to insult each other. We're all basically family right? One big happy thirteen-member family. And we all want to accomplish the same goal, so working together is the best way to reach it right?" Demyx grinned and Xigbar nodded in agreement, settling down.

"However, We'll never reach our goal if were constantly being hindered by the incompetence of an old man who's brain was burnt out years ago smoking joints in the high school dumpster. His sanity is constantly fading out and he can hardly collaborate an intelligent sentence together," Zexion snapped.

Xigbar growled then pushed Demyx aside and marched over to Zexion. " what are you going to do big bad Xigbar? Stupifiy me to death with your inability to prove you have a single functioning brain cell? Or maybe you'll kill me with you excessive use of the words ' like' and 'dude' and 'totally' and ' as if' "

Just as Xigbar was prepared to choke the life from Zexion the cockpit door opened and Axel said " hey guys! We're here!"

XxX

Vexen had began dozing off to the soothing rhythmic sound of the constant pattern of Axel's voice repeating numbers over and over again. Suddenly the melodious pattern was interrupted by a sharp beeping sound. Vexen's eyes flicked back open as the rip they were looking for appeared on the radar.

"DAMIT! Now I lost count!" Axel cursed. "Now I'll have to star over."

"As wonderful as it is that you can count to 2,572,395 , which by the way was the number you were on, we have no time for you to continue nor start over. Go see if the others are awake, I'll prepare the craft for entering the rip zone."

Axel shrugged then opened the door to find Xigbar on his feet, marching toward Zexion menacingly with a look of unbridled rage plastered across his face, Demyx eagerly grabbing the hood of his coat in a vain attempt to pull the Freeshooter back.

Axel considered letting Xigbar choke the Cloaked Schemer to death before interrupting them but he had a feeling it would be blamed on him if he didn't. "Hey guys! We're here!" Axel said and grinned. "as much fun as it looks like your having back here we need to prepare for landing and –"

All of a sudden bright red lights began flashing through the ship. If you've ever seen any sort of sci-fi movie whenever there are bright flashing lights that typically means something has gone horribly long for the sake of making the plot more intricate. "aww hell" Axel cursed and spun around to see Vexen working the controls alarmed.

"the gravitational pull, its too strong. I can't maintain control" Vexen explained as he hammered away at the console. " WORK DAMN YOU WORK!"

"Damnit Vexen do you have any idea how to work this thing!?" Axel cursed, slapping Vexen's hand away and hurriedly typing in commands into the console. He gritted his teeth as various error messages began popping up all over the screen. He burst into a slew of random curse words as the ship began to groan as it was being sucked into the rip.

"**Everyone grab onto something we're gonna crash!!!!" **Axel yelled as the ship jerked and was pulled through the dark swirling abyss that was the inter-dimensional rip. He clenched his eyes shut and all his muscles tightened as he braced himself. There was shaking and jerking all through out the ship, and he was pitched forward. He slammed into the windshield of the cockpit before being hurled backwards into the back room by another lurch followed by the groaning of the ships mechanisms working against the gravity.

"VEXEN HIT THE RELEASE BUTTON" Axel screamed as another jerk sent him sprawling back into a wall. There was a loud thud as his head connected with the wall. His hand ventured up to inspect the wound that had been left from the impact. Axel's eyes fluttered open and he looked at his gloved hand, covered in blood.

" Shit" he cursed and looked around. Xigbar was out cold. He'd been flung into the same wall as Axel during the first set of tremors, which had knocked him out cold and caused him to crumple on the floor.

Demyx was holding on valiantly to the seat Zexion had been sitting in. He had his arms wrapped around it for dear life as the ship pitched again. Finally his grip failed him and he went flying backwards. He hit the ground, face first, and then rolled down the floor and into the back wall.

Zexion was entirely unscathed, save a few bruises he'd have later from the incessant jerks. He had ducked under his seat before it had started, once the lights had begun flashing. Zexion had secretly laughed to himself when he heard the painful clang of Xigbar's body hitting the wall. 'It pays to be the smallest sometimes' he mused to himself. None of the others would have been able to successfully tuck themselves under the seats.

Vexen had strapped himself into the drivers seat, which proved to be perilous in it own way. The jerk that had flung Axel forward had flung Vexen forward, leaving a deep gash across his neck where the strap was. After attaining several wounds he undid the buckle in attempt to find a better way to secure himself. He picked a bad moment as the ship jerked backwards, sending him tumbling backwards. Before he could end up flat against the back wall with the other three he grabbed one of the seats and pulled himself forward.

The ship jerked forward again sending Vexen sprawling forward. He had just enough time to look up and see out the windshield. The ship was now tumbling, successfully pitching Zexion from his hiding place send sending them all in every direction. Before slamming against the windshield Vexen saw a glimpse of the world they were spiraling helplessly towards. He saw a beautiful crystal blue ocean and a gorgeous white sandy beach. Unfortunately they were plummeting right towards the ocean.

XxX

Demyx was the first to regain consciousness. He looked around, puzzled. After a few moments his memory came back to him, hoe they had been hurled about in their craft, how it had plunged into the merciful sea. He saw that the bottom of the craft was beginning to fill up with water. He looked around for the others, found Vexen who had been thrown through the windshield and was now resting on the front of it, still out cold from the impact. He couldn't see the others though. He looked down into the water, figuring that's where they were. He took a deep breath then dove under. He swam to the very bottom (which was the back wall of the ship) and saw Zexion laying against it. Xigbar was rolled up into a ball behind a seat and Axel was laying on the floor. He grabbed Axel, as he was the closest, and pulled him back to the surface. He then dragged him up to the busted windshield and then lay him next to Vexen. He then dove down and retrieved the others and set them all out on the front of the ship in the sun and fresh air.

Demyx then sat down and waited for the others to stir. Ten minutes or so passed before Vexen woke. Hr stood up, then lost his balance and fell backwards into the ocean, due to the odd angle the ship had landed at and the wet surface of the ship. He yelped as the salty water got into his many wound attained from the crash. Demyx quickly went over to the side of the ship and helped him back up onto it.

Vexen choked and sputtered, spitting water out of his mouth. "Thanks Demyx" he chocked out as he laid back down on the ship. He groaned then said " where are we?"

"Screwed, that's where" Axel muttered, coming to. He sat up and looked around. Nothing but sea in all directions. "uhhhg why am I so wet?" he grumbled, standing up, though being careful not to lose his footing as Vexen had.

"Because the ship is filing up with water. Another hour or so and the sea will have claimed it entirely."

"Then make the water go away. You are a hydro aren't you?" Axel snapped angrily. How had he managed to get into this mess?

"oh! That hadn't occurred to me" he said then tried to summon his sitar. Only, it didn't come. He looked puzzled then tried thrice more before staring at Axel, looking for answers.

Axel returned his puzzling glace with a look of trouble. He tried to summon his chakrams but they did not come either. Then Vexen tried to summon his shield. This too failed. " Like I said, were screwed" Axel said flatly and frowned. He glanced over at the two still unconscious members and then broke out into a slew of curses.

"Its okay Axel, well make it, we'll think of something" Demyx said and smiled. He always tried to look on the positives, which annoyed Axel.

"No it isn't you optimistic little bastard. Can't you ever just accept that shit gets fucked up and it's not going to have a happy ending and that we are indeed entirely screwed, we're out in the middle of the fucking sea, with no fucking weapons, and no fucking powers and we are sinking rapidly on a shitty space ship that nearly killed us. AND FOR WHAT! FOR ALL THIS DAMN WATER THAT WE CAN'T USE!?"

Axel went on ranting and cursing for what seemed like an eternity to Demyx. Demyx merely ducked his head and tried to let the words not get to him as much. Vexen scowled at Axel and said, " Well constantly damming everything isn't going to help us Axel. Best to put your 'special' mind to work thinking of a plan to help fix what we can rather than cursing what we can't fix."

Demyx laid down, staring up at the sky when he saw a shadowy form pass overhead. " Hey look, up in the sky!"

"It's a bird, it's a plane!" Axel said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"seriously!" Demyx pleaded then stood up, waving his arms wildly to catch the attention of the object he had seen.

Vexen looked up and saw it too. Rather than communicate he grabbed Axel's face and forced it upward. " Woah, what is that?"

"Dunno but its big and can fly. That would be really useful about now" Vexen said. " Axel can you still use your powers? Maybe if we can light a fire we can get whatever it is attention."

Axel shook his head grimly. Vexen frowned and began thinking of something else.

"you don't have to be a pyro to make fire" Demyx said and grinned before crawling back through the broken windshield. " I was in the scouts, ya know, 'be prepared' and everything." Vexen looked at Axel, confused, while Axel began to burst out laughing. Sure enough though Demyx threw some salvageable junk through the windshield. "maybe we can so something with this" he said and frowned. It wasn't exactly what he had in mind. There was a sheet of steel, a pipe that might have went to something, some copper wires, a first aide kit, leather scraps from the seats and a box of tissues from the glove compartment. While going through the glove compartment he found a small cigarette lighter. " BINGO" he called and climbed back through and sat around the rest of his treasures.

After a while Demyx managed to strategically build a fire. He bent the wires in a circle and then placed down the sheet of steel. He set the copper wire frame down on the steel sheet (to keep the fire from catching the rest of the ship) and then placed tissues in it. Then he lit it on fire with the lighter. He had successfully created a small fire that they could use to keep warm and signal to any other passing UFOs. He grinned, satisfied with himself.

"way to go Demyx, your not totally useless" Axel said and slapped him on the back.

Demyx blushed and then said "awww its nothing. Just using your head."

Vexen looked at Demyx with interest and said "interesting. What you lack in factual intelligence you seem to make up with more of rational and logical intelligence. When put in a situation with limited tools and being able to come up with a plan and with adequate necessities. Interesting. I always took to for a dunderheaded imbecile, I guess I was wrong."

A baffled Demyx decided to take it as a compliment. "ummm thanks Vexen…I think."

Vexen chuckled and said, " Indeed it is a compliment Demyx. For what you lack in I.Q you make up for with other things, we'll just say that."

Axel snorted then said " okay, okay pat Demyx on the back hour is over. Now what do we do huh? Will the world greatest Boy Scout please show us how to turn a handful of leather scraps and some gummi blocks into a boat?"

Demyx frowned then shook his head. " Sorry, but maybe a boat'll come along or maybe that flying thing'll come back…maybe."

XxX END CHAPTER XxX

((Note from the Author: yeah for all those who are wondering what I've been up to this is it. I've actually been suffering from a mix of lack of time and writers block, which is why I haven't updated any of my other stories in like two months. Sorry but I can only do what my brain and time schedule allows me. I hope that everyone enjoys this one, I know I sure got a kick out of it as I was writing it.))


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